The Dryad's Essence
"I'm so tiiired—"
The moment they stepped back into the soldiers' quarters — a place that could practically pass for a base camp by now — Yeon flung herself onto the bed and wailed.
Choco, coming in right behind her, regarded the sprawled figure with a frown.
"Do not go flopping about so. We must still collect our equipment later, must we not?"
The instant they had returned to the fortress, the two of them had headed for the smithy.
"In that condition? Just buy new ones."
The blacksmith — a man by the name of Hrun — took one look at Yeon as she walked through the door and delivered that verdict on the spot.
To Choco's eye the gear still looked salvageable, but a blacksmith apparently saw things differently.
Even so, throwing away Ogle's Masterpiece Set was too painful to contemplate. There was nothing inherently wrong with mass-produced equipment, but discarding a quasi-named set that had "Masterpiece" right there in its name still felt like a terrible waste.
When they offered to pay whatever it took, Hrun stopped refusing. Instead, he quoted them a repair fee of 100,000 gold.
They had bought Ogle's Masterpiece for 30,000 gold. The repairs would cost more than triple that.
"Can't be helped. It'd be cheaper to just reforge the sword and the armor from scratch, but you insist on repairs, which is the harder job. And considering the materials I'll burn through on my end, I'm barely charging you for the labor."
At that, the two of them had no choice but to nod. When the person actually doing the work put it that way, what was there to argue? They stripped off every piece of gear they were wearing and left it all with Hrun, which was why Yeon was now dressed in nothing but the default brown leather outfit.
"The carriage isn't for another two hours anyway, so we just have to pick it up before we leave, right?"
"That may be so, but…"
"Besides, we've been walking around way too much. I'm exhausted."
Yeon's voice had gone limp and whiny. Choco let out a groan and sat herself down on the edge of the bed.
Finishing up at the smithy had not, in fact, meant a straight path back to their quarters. Their next stop had been the relay station — the same one they had first set foot in upon arriving from Lucifen. There they booked a carriage bound for Nateera, the City of Mines, and then spent the rest of their time hawking every last byproduct they had picked up from the battle.
While they were at it, they had also handed over the egg sacs from the Armored Queen Ant to Administrator Roiman.
"Not one, but three of them… Are you trying to wipe the armored ants off the face of the earth?"
Roiman had been thoroughly stunned, but Yeon and Choco accepted the reward without adding a word of explanation and headed back to their quarters. Bringing up witches and all the rest of it would have been nothing but a headache, and they had nothing left to do here besides.
Only after crisscrossing what felt like the entire fortress had they finally made it back to their room.
"More importantly — would you take that out?"
"That? You mean the thing you said you'd ask for once we got back?"
"Yes. That."
At Choco's words, Yeon sat up still hugging her pillow and swept a finger through the empty air. A moment later, an orb of murky, sickly green light materialized in her palm.
"No matter how I look at it, this thing looks ominous."
"Well, it has yet to be refined."
Choco answered Yeon's mutter and took the orb from her hand.
An essence that was once pure, twisted from its original nature for some unknown purpose and stripped of its purity. Consuming it grants a fragment of a dryad's power — but no one can say what else might happen.
◈ Upon use: All stats increase by a small amount.
◈ Upon use: Enter ??? status.
The orb was the Dryad Essence they had obtained from defeating Gejina. A half-portion of one, to be precise. As Choco studied it, Yeon — who had at some point plastered herself against her side — piped up with a question.
"So what are you going to use it for?"
"I shall purify it and have you consume it."
"Oh, I see… Wait. Me? Why?"
Yeon's eyes went wide, as though this were the first she was hearing of it. Choco looked at her as if she had just asked the most obvious question in the world.
"Because there would be little use in my consuming such a thing. I am already sufficiently strong, and mimicking a dryad's abilities to some degree is no great difficulty."
The magic Gejina had displayed could be replicated well enough through Five Elements Daoism — or rather, through the skill it had become, Yin-Yang and Five Elements. Choco simply had no need to bother with it, which was the only reason she did not.
If Yeon consumed it, on the other hand, she would not be able to cast magic the way Gejina had. But an increase to every stat, however small, was nothing to dismiss. Even a single point in each was no different from gaining a level. Stack enough of those and you could pull far ahead of anyone at the same level.
Of course, the effect would be no different if Choco ate it herself. But she was already well ahead of everyone else, and hogging the thing while leaving Yeon out of it would be nothing but greed. They were not playing this game alone. Trying to monopolize everything would have been shameless.
She was still turning that over when Yeon asked another question.
"So how long does the purification take?"
"I cannot say for certain… but I believe it can be done before we depart, at the very least."
Choco murmured it without much conviction. She had only learned she could purify a Dryad Essence in the first place because Tara had told her so. Until then, her plan had been to hang onto it until a use presented itself — or else pawn it off on the Mage Tower.
But if purification was all it took to make the thing usable, there was hardly any reason to sell it. Whether she could actually pull it off was another matter. She was still worrying over that when Tara's voice spoke inside her head.
Purifying an impure object required placing it upon a purification array and concentrating for a set period of time. The problem was that Choco did not even know what a purification array was.
The words might have sounded cutting, but there was surprisingly little mockery in them. The old Tara would not have hesitated. Perhaps the conversation she had had with Yeon in the boss room had left more of a mark than expected. Choco was still turning that over when Tara went on.
So it would remain as a skill. Choco nodded and asked,
"Hup—"
"Hiek!"
Choco turned her head — and found Yeon's face so close she jerked backward in a panic.
Yeon was just as startled. She had been watching Choco go suddenly quiet and sink into concentration, and she had not realized she had drifted quite that near.
"Y-you startled me. Why are you so close?"
"W-well, you suddenly went quiet, so I was wondering why!"
That was not, strictly speaking, wrong. Anyone would find it strange if the other person fell silent in the middle of a conversation. That said, most people would not press their face in quite that close. Choco chose not to press the point. She patted her chest and spoke instead.
"I was speaking with Tara. Asking her the method of purification. You are a complete novice in such matters, after all."
"Huh? I thought you already knew how?"
"I told you, did I not? I was never anything resembling a mage."
Had she been a genuine mage, she would have implemented far more spells through Yin-Yang and Five Elements than she currently used.
"I simply enjoyed swinging a sword and going on adventures. Even I am ignorant of many such particulars."
"Huuuh. Is that so?"
"…What is that reaction supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. I just think it's funny that there's stuff even you don't know."
Choco shook her head.
"Of course there is much I do not know. However long I have played Al Fantasia, what I know is mostly what I have experienced firsthand, and the rest is mere hearsay. That there is much I do not know is only natural."
Being ranked first did not mean knowing every corner of the game. She had started earlier than others and played longer than others, and that was how she had reached the top — not because she had accomplished some legendary feat.
Not that she had no accomplishments to her name. She added that privately, then went on.
"To be honest, Yeon — if you put your mind to it, finding most information would be no trouble at all. Unlike me, you can log out. A glance through the forums and you would know nearly everything about Al Fantasia within a day."
The sheer volume of information accumulated since launch day. Even a cursory look would turn up most of what Choco herself knew — hunting grounds, regions, classes, all of it.
If that happens, I will no longer have anything left to explain to her.
The thought brought with it a strange little pang. Was this what people meant when they talked about getting attached to the newbie you were raising? She was still turning over that unexpected feeling when Yeon shook her head.
"Nnah, I don't really feel like it. Besides, I checked it out before, and browsing the forums seemed a little dangerous, so I'm not gonna."
"If that is how you feel… Wait. You have been on the forums?"
"Ah."
The words had slipped out without a thought, and Yeon clapped a hand over her mouth a second too late. The damage was already done. Choco fixed her with an accusing stare, and Yeon laughed awkwardly.
"I just peeked. Just a peek. Remember? Ho-jin said he was going to post those pictures on the forum. I got curious, so I just… slightly…"
"Ho-jin. That little—just you wait—"
"Ahaha…"
I'm sorry, Ho-jin.
Watching Choco quietly seethe, Yeon offered a silent apology. If they ran into him again and Choco picked a fight, she decided, she would have to step in and stop it.
"So. Did you see much?"
"Huh? See what?"
"Well… this and that."
"Ah… I didn't look at any of that."
By "this and that," Choco meant the countless guides posted on the forums. Yeon, however, had spent her time browsing something labeled the free board, and had never so much as laid eyes on the word "guide."
Choco tilted her head, puzzled.
"Then what did you look at? There is hardly anything worth reading there besides guides."
"Stories… I guess?"
"Stories?"
"Yeah. People on the board were telling old stories. The Ranker Tales series was pretty fun."
"…A tale series? What is that?"
"It's a collection of rumors and stories about the people from rank one to rank ten… Oh, wait — is there a story about you too? You said you were a high-ranking player."
"Ah. Well…"
Yeon said it so innocently that Choco turned her face away, looking distinctly caught out. Come to think of it, she had always told Yeon she was a high-ranking player. She had never once mentioned that she had been rank one.
She had no idea what sort of stories were written in that series… but if anything strange was in there, bringing up the subject would only get harder.
"…So which story did you find most entertaining?"
"Hmm… Oh, the one about rank two chasing after rank one?"
…That story was going around too? Choco stared at her, incredulous, but Yeon took the look as an invitation to keep going and launched in with relish.
"I don't know what kind of grudge it is, but apparently rank two has been chasing rank one since before they were even rank two. They even dress similarly. Nobody knows the story behind it, though."
"I-is that so."
"Aren't you curious too? From what I read, they've been chasing them for years at least. What on earth did they do to deserve that?"
Yes, well. Why had that person been chasing her? Choco laughed awkwardly and stood up.
"Well, that fellow must have done something to warrant such pursuit. More importantly, if I do not begin the work soon, we shall miss the carriage. I shall commence the purification."
"There's still more I wanted to talk about… Can't that wait?"
"It can, but would it not be better to finish this promptly? I shall listen to the rest on the road to Nateera. For now, rest."
"Hmph. Fine."
Yeon puffed out her cheeks, spun around, and flopped onto the bed.
A little sulky, perhaps — but she could be soothed later.
Tara's voice was thick with amusement. Choco snapped back a little more sharply than intended, well aware that getting angry only made her look more ridiculous.
Choco moved her hands along with the voice in her head. A figure took shape in spiritual energy — something that felt at once simple and strangely inscrutable.
So this was a purification array. She studied the completed formation, then set the Dryad Essence upon it.
A faint cluster of light rose and wrapped itself around the orb.
At the sound of that giggling voice, Choco let out a long sigh.